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- <h3 class="title"><a id="gimp-patterns"></a>4.10. Patterns</h3>
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- <a id="id3424870" class="indexterm"></a>
- <p>
- A <span class="emphasis"><em>pattern</em></span> is an image, usually small, used
- for filling regions by <span class="emphasis"><em>tiling</em></span>, that is, by
- placing copies of the pattern side by side like ceramic tiles. A
- pattern is said to be <span class="emphasis"><em>tileable</em></span> if copies of
- it can be adjoined left-edge-to-right-edge and
- top-edge-to-bottom-edge without creating obvious seams. Not all
- useful patterns are tileable, but tileable patterns are nicest for
- many purposes. (A <span class="emphasis"><em>texture</em></span>, by the way, is
- the same thing as a pattern.)
- </p>
- <div class="informalfigure">
- <div class="mediaobject">
- <img src="../images/using/patterns-usage.png" />
- <div class="caption">
- <p>
- Three ways of using the "Leopard" pattern: bucket-filling a
- selection, painting with the Clone tool, and stroking an
- elliptical selection with the pattern.
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- In GIMP there are three main uses for patterns:
- </p>
- <div class="itemizedlist">
- <ul type="disc">
- <li>
- <p>
- With the <a href="ch03s06s02.html" title="6.2. Bucket Fill">Bucket
- Fill</a> tool, you can choose to fill a region with a
- pattern instead of a solid color.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- With the <a href="ch03s03s08.html" title="3.8. Clone Tool">Clone</a> tool,
- you can paint using a pattern, with a wide variety of
- paintbrush shapes.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p>
- When you <span class="emphasis"><em>stroke</em></span> a path or selection, you
- can do it with a pattern instead of a solid color. You can
- also use the Clone tool as your choice if you stroke the
- selection using a painting tool.
- </p>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </div>
- <p>
- Note: Patterns do not need to be opaque. If you fill or paint using a
- pattern with translucent or transparent areas, then the previous
- contents of the area will show through from behind it. This is
- one of many ways of doing "overlays" in GIMP.
- </p>
- <p>
- When you install GIMP, it comes presupplied with a few dozen
- patterns, which seem to have been chosen more or less randomly.
- You can also add new patterns, either ones you create yourself, or
- ones you download from the vast number available online.
- </p>
- <p>
- GIMP's <span class="emphasis"><em>current pattern</em></span>, used in most
- pattern-related operations, is shown in the
- Brush/Pattern/Gradient area of the Toolbox. Clicking on the
- pattern symbol brings up the <a href="ch04s11.html" title="11. Patterns dialog">Patterns dialog</a>, which allows
- you to select a different pattern. You can also access the
- Patterns dialog by menu, or dock it so that it is present
- continuously.
- </p>
- <p>
- To add a new pattern to the collection, so that it shows up in the
- Patterns dialog, you
- need to save it in a format GIMP can use, in a folder included in
- GIMP's pattern search path. There are several file formats you can
- use for patterns:
- </p>
- <div class="itemizedlist">
- <ul type="disc">
- <li>
- <p><b>PAT. </b>
- The <tt class="filename">.pat</tt> format is used only by GIMP, so
- you will not find patterns in this format unless they were
- created specifically for GIMP. You can, however, convert any
- image into a <tt class="filename">.pat</tt> file by opening it in
- GIMP and then saving it using a file name ending in
- <tt class="filename">.pat</tt>.
- </p>
- </li>
- <li>
- <p><b>PNG, JPEG, BMP, GIF and TIFF. </b>
- New in GIMP 2.2 is the ability to use
- <tt class="filename">.png</tt>, <tt class="filename">.jpg</tt>,
- <tt class="filename">.bmp</tt>, <tt class="filename">.gif</tt>, or
- <tt class="filename">.tiff</tt> files as patterns.
- </p>
- </li>
- </ul>
- </div>
- <p>
- To make a pattern available, you place it in one of the folders in
- GIMP's pattern search path. By default, the pattern search path
- includes two folders, the system <tt class="filename">patterns</tt>
- folder, which you should not use or alter, and the
- <tt class="filename">patterns</tt> folder inside your personal GIMP
- directory. You can add new folders to the pattern search path
- using the <a href="ch04s18s16.html" title="18.16. Data Folders">Pattern
- Folders</a> page of the Preferences dialog. Any PAT
- file (or, in GIMP 2.2, any of the other acceptable formats)
- included in a folder in the pattern search path will show up
- in the Patterns dialog the next time you start GIMP.
- </p>
- <p>
- There are countless ways of creating interesting patterns in GIMP,
- using the wide variety of available tools and filters --
- particularly the rendering filters. You can find tutorials for
- this in many locations, including the <a href="www.gimp.org" target="_top">Gimp home page</a>. Some of the filters
- have options that allow you to make their results tileable. Also,
- the <a href="ch06s02s07.html" title="2.7. Tileable Blur">Tileable Blur</a>
- filter allows you to blend the edges of an image in order to make
- it more smoothly tileable.
- </p>
- <div class="informalfigure">
- <div class="mediaobject">
- <img src="../images/using/pattern-script-examples.png" />
- <div class="caption">
- <p>
- Examples of patterns created using six of the Pattern
- script-fu's that come with GIMP. Default settings were used
- for everything except size.
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- Also of interest are a set of pattern-generating scripts that come
- with GIMP: you can find them in the Toolbox menu, under
- <span class="guimenu">Xtns</span>-><span class="guisubmenu">Script-Fu</span>-><span class="guisubmenu">Patterns</span>.
- Each of the scripts creates a new image filled with a particular
- type of pattern: a dialog pops up that allows you to set
- parameters controlling the details of the appearance. Some of
- these patterns are most useful for cutting and pasting; others
- serve best as bumpmaps.
- </p>
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